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.S6 P25 Christianity and Industry: Seven 

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INCENTIVES 
IN MODERN LIFE 

ARE THE MOTIVES OF JESUS PRACTICABLE / 
IN MODERN BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE ? 



BY 
KIRBY PAGE 

AUTHOR OF "THE UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION, 
"INDUSTRIAL FACTS," "COLLECTIVE BARGAINING," ETC. 



The William Venn Lecture of 1922 



NEW sOEr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 

Ten Cents Net. 



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COPYRIGHT, 1922, 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



JUL 24*22 



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CONTENTS 

PA.GE 

I: INTRODUCTION 5 

II: TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE INCENTIVES 
OF MODERN LIFE UNCHRISTIAN? 7 

(1) The Desire for a Higher Standard of 
Life 

Enlightened Self-Interest 
Social Effects of Luxury 

(2) The Desire for Success or Personal 
Power 

(3) The Desire to Serve 

(4) Summary 

III: ARE THE MOTIVES OF JESUS PRACTICABLE 
IN MODERN BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL 
LIFE? 15 

(1) The Motives of Jesus 

(2) Human Instincts 

(3) Jesus' Way of Life and Human Nature 

(4) Changes in the Public Attitude Needed 

(5) The Outcome of Continued Strife 

(6) The Power of Public Opinion . 

(7) The Resources of Religious People 

(8) Summary 

IV: APPENDIX: THE ACQUISITIVE SOCIETY.. 27 



THE WILLIAM PENN LECTURE FOR 1922 

WAS DELIVERED AT 

THE RACE STREET MEETING HOUSE 

FOR THE 

YOUNG FRIENDS MOVEMENT 

PHILADELPHIA 

MAY 14TH 



IV 



I: INTRODUCTION 

A recent scientific bulletin estimates that three billion 
slaves would be required in the United States to do the 
work now being done by machines. It is further estimated 
that the mechanical power available is equivalent to 
fifty servants for every man, woman and child in this 
country. A huge turbine now produces energy equal 
to the labor of 400,000 strong men. 

And yet this generation, which has fallen heir to 
incalculable energy and countless labor saving devices, 
is witnessing the spectacle of multitudes of people who 
are hungry and ill clad. Not only in the backward 
nations of the earth is this true, but across Europe there 
is appalling destitution. Even in our own land, the most 
favored of all the earth, large numbers of people are 
lacking in the necessities and minimum comforts of life. 
At a conservative estimate there are several million 
persons in the United States who are living in poverty 
or on the border of destitution. 

An official commission of our Federal Government 
reported that "at least one-third and possibly one-half 
of the families of wage earners employed in manufacturing 
and mining earn in the course of the year less than 
enough to support them in anything like a comfortable 
and decent condition." 

Another startling contrast is that between the claims 
and achievements of the churches. They claim to have 
a solution for all problems of human relations. For 
nineteen centuries they have been proclaiming a message 
of love, peace and brotherhood among men. And yet 
we are living in a world of strife. Everywhere men are 

5 



6 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

divided into warring camps. Nation is arrayed against 
nation, race against race, class against class. Bitterness 
and hatred are widespread. 

How shall we account for the present state of affairs? 
Why are people hungry when the resources are at hand 
to supply their needs? Why are the churches so ineffective 
in overcoming strife and enmity? 



II: TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE 
INCENTIVES OF MODERN LIFE 
UNCHRISTIAN? 



In a single address one cannot hope to deal with all 
of the complex issues involved. Only one phase of the 
situation can be considered. Much of the present turmoil 
and suffering is undoubtedly rooted in the incentives 
of modern life. We should, therefore, seek to analyze 
the dominant motives of men today. What are the 
chief influences which move men to action? 



(1) THE DESIRE FOR A HIGHER 
STANDARD OF LIFE 

This is a stimulus which is prevalent among all civilized 
people. The desire for wholesome food, serviceable 
clothing and pleasant surroundings is almost universal. 
One of the reasons why men exert themselves is that 
they may secure these things. 

With a large proportion of the population in the United 
States the struggle is for the bare necessities and minimum 
comforts of life. Fear of hunger and destitution is ever 
present with large groups of people. With many other 
persons the struggle is for the comforts and minimum 
luxuries of life. And still others are striving for luxuries 
in abundance. This desire to raise one's standard of 
life is one of the impelling motives in modern life. Higher 
wages and larger profits are desired primarily as a means 
to this end. Modern industry rests upon the profit 
system. The appeal to self-interest is dominant. Finan- 
cial reward is depended upon to secure maximum activity. 
Each person is supposed to make as large profits as he 
can, so long as he follows the accepted rules. 



8 • INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST 

For more than a century " enlightened self-interest," 
as a consciously accepted doctrine, has prevailed. It 
has been taken for granted by most Anglo-Saxon people 
that the welfare of all, can best be served by each person 
seeking his own good. Edmund Burke once said that 
we should be filled "with thankfulness to the benign 
and wise Disposer of all things, who obliges men, whether 
they will or not, in pursuing their own selfish interests, 
to connect the general good with their own individual 
successes." Archbishop Whately expresses a similar 
opinion: "It is curious to observe how through the wise 
and beneficient arrangement of Providence, men thus do 
the greatest service to the public when they are thinking 
of nothing but their own gain." 

The opinion is still widely prevalent that modern 
industry cannot exist on any other basis than individual 
selfishness. A prominent banker recently said: "I 
know of no way of making any human being give $50,000 
worth of service for $1,500 in pay. Nobody would care 
much about working hard enough to earn more than 
$10,000 a year just to see someone else get it." 

In our protest against "profiteering" we have 
usually failed to realize how deeply engrained the profit 
motive is in modern life. Many persons are enraged at 
the few skilled workers who have successfully demanded 
$15 per day. Just now the wrath of the public is directed 
against coal miners and operators. It seems rather 
strange that we should find fault with a few workers 
and employers for doing the very thing which is most 
characteristic of modern business and industry. 

The man who purchases a corner lot for $5,000 and 
two years later sells it for $12,000 is credited with good 
judgment. The broker who buys at 89 and sells for 
148 is congratulated by his friends. The name of the 
"home-run king", whose salary runs into five figures, 
is a household word throughout the land. The prize 
fighter who receives $350,000 for a few well directed 
blows is acclaimed as a national hero. The movie star 
who draws a salary of a million dollars a year is the idol 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

of the fans. The farmer whose potato patch is transformed 
into an oil well and whose old buggy is exchanged for 
a Rolls Royce, becomes an object of admiration and 
envy on the part of his neighbors. And so it goes through 
modern life. The possessive instincts, the desire to 
own and to display are dominant. 

Is the desire for more possessions unchristian? This 
question cannot be answered until we discover the 
consequences of having more possessions : upon ourselves 
and upon others. Possessions are the basis of culture. 
They furnish security and leisure. Want and the fear 
of want are deadly foes of the good life. The higher 
values are endangered when one is compelled to spend 
all of his time and energy in the struggle for mere exist- 
ence. Family life, especially, is menaced by poverty. 
Certainly we would not say that the struggle of a man 
for possessions enough to enable him to support his family 
in modest comfort and security is unchristian. The 
unchristian thing in this connection is the set of circum- 
stances which make this comfort and security impossible 
for many families. 

What shall we say concerning the desire for more 
than the minimum comforts of life? Is such a desire 
unchristian? What are the effects of an annual income 
of $5,000 upon a family? There seems to be no doubt 
that most families could use an income of this amount 
to good advantage and would be enabled to live more 
abundantly as a result. The question, however, cannot 
be settled on this basis alone. We must also consider 
whether or not this sum is more than our share of the 
national income. 

What shall we say concerning the larger incomes? 
Is the desire for great wealth unchristian? What are 
the consequences? For some persons great wealth means 
the opportunity for higher culture, for others it means a 
chance for riotous living. Great possessions bring larger 
opportunities and more dangers. At this point it will 
be recalled that Jesus warned his hearers of the perils 
of great riches and spoke of the difficulty with which a 
rich man can enter the Kingdom of God. 

Are great fortunes a good thing for society? Do they 



10 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

promote the public welfare? There is no doubt that 
large gifts to worthy causes, made possible by great 
fortunes, have done an immense amount of good. In 
almost every community there are evidences of these 
generous gifts. In the realms of public health, education, 
art and religion, the philanthropy of the rich has been 
an important factor. 

On the other hand, we must take into account the 
menace of excessive concentration of wealth and power. 
While great fortunes make possible generous gifts, they 
also make possible a high degree of control in education, 
civic affairs and political life, and of public opinion. 
Great fortunes in the hands of selfish people do an immense 
amount of damage to the public welfare. 

THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF LUXURY 

The point v upon which we need to do the clearest 
thinking, however, is with regard to the social effects of 
luxuries. Does the production and consumption of 
luxuries promote the common good? There is a wide- 
spread belief that the production of luxuries "makes 
work" and "puts money in circulation," and is, therefore, 
a good thing for everybody. Is this idea supported by 
the facts in the case? 

Let us consider an extreme instance, that of a wealthy 
man who decides to build a two-million-dollar mansion. 
He selects one of the most desirable plots in the city, 
fronting on the park. Plans are drawn up calling for 
fifty rooms, some of which are as large as four or five 
ordinary apartments; elaborate decorations; furnishings 
gathered from the corners of the earth; an immense 
pipe organ; swimming pool and a score of bath rooms, 
sunken gardens and a large hot-house; and a library of 
several thousand volumes. Hundreds of workers are 
employed for a year. After completion the building is 
used by one family, with occasional guests, for less than 
half the year. The public is rigorously excluded. Scores of 
servants are employed and the upkeep of the place costs 
upward of a hundred thousand dollars a year. 

Has the expenditure of two million dollars upon this 
mansion been a good thing or a bad thing for society? 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 11 

It has "made work" for hundreds of persons. It has 
put an immense amount of money in circulation. From 
the standpoint of society, however, it has done three 
other things: It has wasted human labor, it has wasted 
materials, it has wasted capital. The same workers, 
the same materials and the same capital might have been 
used in the erection of several hundred badly needed 
apartments. As many workers could have been employed 
and as much money put in circulation, and in the end 
several hundred times as many people would have been 
housed. 

This is an extreme illustration and the number of 
eases of this sort is limited. But it does bring out the 
social consequences of the production of luxuries. The 
fact which should be stamped indelibly upon our minds 
is this: Luxuries divert labor, materials and capital 
into channels which are of little social value, and therefore, 
raise the price of the necessities of life, thus increasing the 
struggle of the poor. Upon this point economists are 
generally agreed. 

In the light of this indisputable fact, the question 
should be raised: Is a Christian justified in living in 
luxury, at the expense of an intensified struggle on the 
part of the poor for the bare necessities of life? Is a 
Christian justified in even spending the amount necessary 
for his own fullest cultural development, at the expense 
of the less fortunate? What are the effects upon brother- 
hood of living in luxury while many are in want? 

Still another factor needs to be considered, viz., the 
appalling human need in other parts of the world. The 
obligation which rests upon a follower of Jesus knows 
no boundaries of race or nation. The true Christian in 
America cannot be unmindful of the tragic need in the 
Orient, the Near East, or Europe. The expenditure of 
even a few dollars in the needier places of the earth means 
the saving of human lives, each of which is of inestimable 
worth in the sight of God. Are any of us justified in 
living in luxury in a hungry world? 

At what point does the desire for personal possessions 
become unchristian? This question demands clear think- 
ing, resolute decision and courageous action. 



12 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

(2) THE DESIRE FOR SUCCESS OR 
PERSONAL POWER 

A second major incentive in modern life is the desire to 
succeed, to achieve a given end. This motive operates 
powerfully with many persons who have no desire for 
great possessions. Moreover it is often the basis of the 
desire for great possessions, since possessions have now 
become a badge of success. 

Mr. Charles M. Schwab, President of the Bethlehem 
Steel Corporation, once said: "When the achievements 
of my life have been completed and my obituary is being 
written, if I can leave as a monument a long line of smoke 
stacks and boiler works and rolling mills and establish- 
ments, I shall be prouder than of the grandest monument 
men might erect in my memory. The men in business 
in the United States are not working for money alone. 
The chief pride of American character is successful 
accomplishment. It may be measured by the dollars 
that go into his coffers, but the real throb and thrill of 
pleasure that comes to his mind is one of successful 
accomplishment. ' ' 

The attitude of many business and professional men 
has been described by a prominent sociologist in these 
words: " American men make money as American boys 
play marbles in spring, baseball in summer, and football 
in autumn.. The rich man toiling for more, often is 
simply trying to run up a high score at the national 
game." 

The desire for personal power is closely bound up with 
the desire to succeed. Many men are thrilled at their 
ability to manipulate things, while some find their 
greatest joy in directing other people. The desire for 
the success which brings recognition and personal power 
is an important factor in modern life. 

Is the desire for success and personal power unchristian? 
It depends upon the kind of success desired and the use 
to which power is put. None of us would say that it is 
unchristian to desire personal power as a means of helping 
other people. Unfortunately, power is more often desired 
for selfish reasons. Many persons desire power as a 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 13 

means of satisfying selfish ambitions or of gratifying 
personal pride. 

The wife of Zebedee once asked Jesus to grant to her 
sons the privilege of occupying the chief places of honor 
in his kingdom. In reply Jesus said to his desciples: 
"Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over 
them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 
Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would be 
first among you shall be your servant, even as the Son 
of Man came not" to be ministered unto, but to minister 
and give his life a ransom for many." 

(3) THE DESIRE TO SERVE 

A third major incentive in modern life is the desire to 
serve, to be of use in the world. This should not be 
confused with a popular meaning of "service" in business 
today. The word is often used as meaning courtesy, 
thoughtfulness, fair dealing and efficiency — for the sake 
of higher profits. Many persons believe in "service" 
because it pays. 

There are, however, many persons in modern life 
whose chief stimulus is the genuine desire to help other 
folks and to have a share in building a better world. 
These persons are found in all walks of life — as merchants, 
teachers, lawyers, artists, preachers, scientists, surgeons, 
carpenters, bankers, farmers, and miners. 

(4) SUMMARY 

The evidence seems to indicate that the group whose 
chief motive is that of unselfish service is greatly out- 
numbered by those who are spurred to action by the 
desire for possessions or personal power. It seems 
unquestionable that of the total number of business and 
professional men in the United States, a large majority 
are motivated chiefly by the desire for possessions or 
for the power which accompanies success. Self-interest, 
enlightened or unenlightened, is still dominant in the 
fives of most people. 

A well known writer has described what he believed 
to be the prevailing spirit of the times in these words: 



14 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

"Look where you will, it is the spirit of I Myself which is 
paramount. Life exists for Me: all the dim aeons 
behind have toiled to produce Me: This brief moment 
in the eternal duration of time is only an opportunity 
for My pleasure and My ease. I care not a jot for the 
ages ahead and the sons of men who shall inhabit the 
earth when I am dust beneath their feet. Give Me My 
Rights. Stand clear of My way. I want and I will have." 



Ill: ARE THE MOTIVES OF JESUS 
PRACTICABLE IN MODERN 
BUSINESS AND PROFESSION- 
AL LIFE? 

(1)- THE MOTIVES OF JESUS 

The dominant motive of Jesus was service. "For the 
Son of Man himself has not come to be served but to 
serve." "For the Son of Man has come to seek and save 
the lost." "I have come that they may have life and 
have it the full." "And for their sake I consecrate myself 
that they may be consecrated by the truth." Love was 
the supreme characteristic of his life. He went about 
doing good, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, strength- 
ening the tempted, lifting up the fallen, comforting the 
broken hearted, calling men into companionship with 
the Father. His manner of life and his message were so 
unacceptable to the ecclesiastical authorities of his day 
that in the end he was hanged upon a cross. And yet, 
in the anguish of those last moments, he cried out, 
"Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are 
doing." 

Is Jesus' way of life practicable for men in this gene- 
ration? Are men so constituted that it is hopeless to 
expect them to be dominated by his motives? 

(2) HUMAN INSTINCTS 

There is general agreement among psychologists today 
that the actions of human beings are motivated primarily 
by instincts, innate tendencies or psychical dispositions. 
"The behavior of man in the family," says Professor 
Thorndike, "in business, in the state, in religion, and 
in every other affair of life, is rooted in his unlearned 
original equipment of instincts and capacities." Are 

15 



16 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

these instincts or tendencies of such a nature as to make 
the motives of Jesus impracticable for most men? 

Among the strongest instincts of man are those of sex, 
acquisition, anger, pugnacity and mastery. These 
instincts are often expressed in a manner which is anti- 
social, but it by no means follows that they are inherently 
anti-social. They are frequently expressed in ways 
which are of great social value. Moreover, there are 
other human instincts which most readily express them- 
selves through social channels. Psychologists are generally 
agreed that the following tendencies are innate in human 
nature : 

(1) The instinct of creation or workmanship. It is 
natural for men to make things. This is as truly a part 
of the nature of man as the desire for possessions. William 
James has said: "Constructiveness is a genuine and 
irresistible instinct in man as in the bee or beaver." If 
this tendency is not manifest in men today it is because 
of the artificial and adverse conditions under which they 
live. 

(2) The gregarious instinct and sensitiveness to approval 
and disapproval. It is natural for men to desire to be 
together. This is one of the reasons for the growth of 
cities and the decline of rural communities. Not only 
do men like to be together, they are very sensitive to 
the opinion of the rest of the group. Ostracism is one 
of the severest penalties which can come to any man. 
Man cannot be happy by himself. A prominent sociologist 
has expressed the opinion that the social motive is "the 
strongest that sways us, even stronger in normal life 
than hunger or sex." 

(3) The instinct of self-respect. It is natural for men 
to evaluate their own conduct and to desire to reach a 
standard which they have erected. Men delight in their 
own skill, strength, or righteousness. The desire for 
self-approval operates powerfully in all normal persons. 

(4) The instinct of parental love and self-sacrifice. 
The love of parents for their children and the willingness 
to sacrifice for them is universal. Closely related is the 
tendency to be kind and considerate of others. Mutual 
aid is natural to human beings, as it is to the higher 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 17 

animals. The subordination of selfish desires to the 
higher good of the group is characteristic of individuals 
in ascending civilization. "The power of sacrifice and 
renunciation/' says Benjamin Kidd, "is the first and 
last word in the kind of efficiency which is deepening in 
the social era of the race. The progress of humanity, 
has, therefore, over and above every other feature this 
meaning. It is the epic of the vast, tragic, ennobling, 
immortalizing, all-conquering ethic of Renunciation. " 

(3) JESUS' WAY OF LIFE AND HUMAN NATURE 

The reason for examining human instincts at this point 
is that such a study shows that human nature is not 
inevitably antagonistic to Jesus' way of life. The motives 
which prompted him to action are deeply ingrained in 
human nature and are altogether natural to normal 
persons. 

The best proof of this statement is found in the fact 
that throughout the centuries many persons have applied 
his motives in all relationships of life. This has been 
true not only of Christian missionaries and ministers, 
but also of persons in many other vocations. There 
have been conspicuous illustrations of men of science 
who were motivated by a passion for truth and the desire 
to be of service to mankind, even though this devotion 
cost them their fives. The glorious record of these men 
is a repudiation of the idea that the possessive instincts 
are always dominant. 

It seems strange that there should be any lingering 
doubts as to the power of self-sacrifice latent in all normal 
human beings, after the world-wide demonstration during 
the Great War. One does not need to be a believer in 
the righteousness or efficacy of war as a method, to recog- 
nize the fact that during the war there was a vast sacri- 
ficial outpouring of treasure and blood. In all of the 
belligerent nations the instincts of possession were 
subordinated to the instincts of service and self-giving. 
A stupendous volume of self-sacrifice was released and 
millions of men — Americans, Germans, Englishmen, 
Frenchmen, Austrians and Italians — gladly laid down 
their lives in what they believed to be a holy cause. 



18 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

The experiences of war-time should convince us beyond 
doubt that self-sacrifice is just as natural as any other of 
man's instincts and under appropriate circumstances is 
absolutely supreme in the average person. The desire for 
possessions, craving for mastery, love of family, are 
ultimately less powerful than sacrificial devotion to a 
great cause. 

At bottom there is no essential difference in the make-up 
of missionaries, scientists, soldiers and the common 
people in all walks of life. All are members of one species, 
children of one Father. All have the same instincts 
and innate tendencies. Love is just as natural as hate, 
mutual aid as antagonism, self-sacrifice as self-assertion. 
None of the motives of Jesus are unnatural for the 
normal person. 

In this connection, Professor John Dewey says: "If 
there are difficulties in the way of social alteration — as 
there certainly are — they do not lie in an original aversion 
of human nature to serviceable action," but rather in 
the conditions under which men live. Professor Irving 
Fisher names seven major instincts, as follows: self- 
preservation, # self-expression, self-respect, loyalty, home- 
making, play, worship. He then says: "Of the seven 
mentioned, only the instinct of self-preservation is even 
fairly well satisfied by the majority of workers. We 
thrum too continuously on the one string. Human 
nature is a harp of many strings. We must use the rest 
of the octave." 

The task before us, then, is not the changing of human 
nature, but the creation of situations in which new 
sets of human instincts may more easily find expression. 
To this end, public opinion needs to be changed with 
regard to several vital points. Since individual action is 
profoundly affected by social approval and disapproval, 
this is a natural place to begin. It would seem that the 
public attitude needs to be changed with regard to three 
fundamental points in modern industry. 

(4) CHANGES IN THE PUBLIC ATTITUDE NEEDED 

First, with regard to the relative merits of possession 

and creation. In the United States it seems unquestion- 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 19 

able that possession or ownership has generally been 
regarded much more highly than the element of creation 
or construction. The man who has things is usually 
more highly honored than the man who does things. 
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but in the 
average community the man with the greatest possessions 
is usually regarded as "the biggest man in town." The 
millionaire is" usually more admired and envied than the 
teacher or preacher, although the degree of his service 
for his fellows may be negligible as compared with that 
of many other citizens. Therefore, the ideal held most 
vividly before the average young person is the desire 
to become rich. 

This is not a high ideal and its pursuit is responsible 
for much of the strife and misery in the world today. 
The ideal which should constantly be held before the 
youth of the land is that of service, creation, construction, 
for the common good. Chief honors should go to those 
who are most successful in this realm and only the lesser 
honors to those who succeed in accumulating goods for 
their own selfish enjoyment. Upon the relative merits 
of creating and owning, public opinion should speak in 
clarion tones. 

Second, there is need for a change in public opinion 
with regard to the purpose of engaging in business or 
industry. It is. now too often assumed that young people 
should enter business or industry primarily as a means 
of making money. This is a low conception of business 
and places it on a different level than the ministry or 
certain other professions. No one would suggest that a 
young man should enter the ministry or the teaching 
profession primarily because it offers an opportunity to 
make money. 

We need a new attitude toward industry. The chief 
purpose of industry is not to help men get rich; its chief 
purpose is to produce goods and services which are needed 
by the community. The idea that men should engage 
in business or industry primarily to make money is 
responsible for much of the present disorder and in- 
efficiency. 

Third, we need a new attitude toward competition 



20 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

and co-operation. Throughout American history, compe- 
tition has been glorified and regarded as the basis of 
our national prosperity. There is much to be said for 
this point of view. Competition has tended to develop 
self-reliance and independence of spirit and has contrib- 
uted to social progress. It is probable, however, that 
the extent of this contribution has been highly exaggerated 
in the popular mind. 

It seems time to challenge the sanctity of competition 
and to point out its real nature. A distinction should be 
made between modern competition in business and 
rivalry in games or artistic pursuits. The value of such 
rivalry is generally recognized. Commercial competition 
as a rule is not friendly rivalry and good sportsmanship. 
The primary purpose of commercial competition is to 
gain personal power or a larger share of the common 
store of goods and services. Its result usually is strife 
and bitterness and it is the basis of the intense struggle 
now being waged in industry, where employer is arrayed 
against employer, workman against workman, employers 
against workmen, and consumers against both employers 
and workmen. 

It should be recognized that conditions in the United 
States have changed during the past three decades and 
that competition is less and less efficient. So long as 
land was cheap and plentiful and so long as industry was 
conducted in small units, competition was more effective 
and less destructive of human relations. Now that our 
population has greatly increased and that immense 
tracts of land are being monopolized by a few holders, 
with the consequence that land is increasingly expensive 
and difficult to secure by the average man, and since 
industry is increasingly being concentrated in great units, 
with fewer men owning their own tools, the results of 
competition are more and more disastrous. 

Harmony and efficiency in industry depend upon 
co-operation. The need of the hour is for public opinion 
which will strongly disapprove selfish competition and 
approve co-operation for the common good. The times 
demand a multitude of intensive experiments in co- 
operation in all phases of industry. Public opinion should 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 21 

bestow it*s blessings upon all genuine efforts to substitute 
the principle of co-operation for that of competition. 
Experiments in co-operative distribution, co-operative 
marketing, co-operative production and co-operative 
banking should be encouraged. 

(5) THE OUTCOME OF CONTINUED STRIFE 

The people of this generation will do well to pause 
and consider the probable outcome of the present strife 
if unchecked. It should be remembered that the peoples 
of the earth are being drawn into closer and closer con- 
tacts. Trade knows no boundaries and international 
competition is growing keener. The points of friction are 
multiplying and the danger zones are widening. 

Within the different nations the situation is critical. 
The lines between employers and workers are being 
drawn more sharply. Bitterness in industrial relations 
is increasing. The belligerent parties in the struggle are 
growing in power. There is an increasing concentration 
of wealth and control and employers' associations are 
growing in power. Organized labor is also gaining 
strength. Industrial struggles are more and more dis- 
astrous to public welfare. Continued emphasis upon 
self-interest and competition can have no other end than 
intensified warfare in industry. A recent writer has 
said: "We must discover new motives or life will become 
sordid and desolate, and society a trough, a sty, and a 
slaughter pen." Unless new motives are made dominant, 
it is altogether probable that the nations will be plunged 
into further wars. And further wars on a wide scale 
will undoubtedly threaten the very existence of modern 
civilization. We should not allow ourselves to forget 
that several civilizations have perished from the earth 
in the course of human history. 

The churches should realize the extent of their stake 
in the industrial struggle. The more intense this struggle 
becomes, the less influence they will have in any sphere 
of life. The churches in the United States should take 
warning from what is happening in England and on the 
Continent. There seems to be no doubt that the breach 
between the churches and the great* masses of working 



22 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

people is widening. In many European countries the 
churches are held in contempt by most workers, and have 
little influence in the community. The industrial struggle 
is not solely responsible for this condition, but it is a 
major factor. 

Strife and warfare in industry undermine the very 
foundations upon which the churches rest. It is mockery 
to speak of brotherhood being a reality when men in 
industry are tearing at each other's vitals. The sooner 
the churches realize that their future usefulness depends 
upon a lessening of the industrial conflict, and the sooner 
they throw the full weight of their influence against self- 
interest and selfish competition and in favor of friendly 
co-operation for the public welfare, the better it will be 
for the world. 

(6) POWER OF PUBLIC OPINION 

A society which awards -its honors on a basis of service, 
rather than on grounds of ownership; in which industry 
is based on production for social use, rather than for 
individual profit; and in which the method is that of 
co-operation for the common good, rather than selfish 
competition for private gain; will be one in which the 
chief barriers to harmony and efficiency in industry have 
been removed. A strong public expression on these 
three points would make possible an immense stride 
forward. . 

The power of public approval or disapproval is very 
great. If selfish competition for the sake of accumulating 
goods for personal enjoyment should be placed under 
the ban of public disapproval, and unselfish co-operation 
for the common good should receive the unqualified 
endorsement of public opinion, an atmosphere would 
be created in which the anti-social instincts would be 
sub-ordinated and the more social tendencies released. 
It has been said by Professor E. C. Hayes that "society 
has incalculable power to suppress what it sufficiently 
condemns and to promote what it sufficiently appreciates. 
. . . Society can create a situation in which wicked- 
ness will in general be imbecility." 

In this connection, Benjamin Kidd said: "Every 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 23 

institution in civilization is in fore-grips with a new kind 
of knowledge, the control of which will become a matter 
of life and death to it. It is clearly in evidence that the 
science of creating and transmitting public opinion under 
the influence of collective emotion is about to become 
the principal science of civilization, to the mastery of 
which all governments and all powerful interests will 
in the future address themselves with every resource at 
their command." 

Religious people have a duty and an opportunity at 
this point. In the light of the teaching and example of 
Jesus it would seem that the churches should have a 
clear message with regard to the three points under 
consideration. Jesus uttered a warning against the 
desire for great possessions in these words: "Take heed, 
and keep yourselves from all covetousness ; for a man's 
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he 
possesseth." He warned his hearers against fruitless 
worry over food and raiment. In a parable he pictured 
the doom of a rich man who was intent only upon his 
own comfort and pleasure. The verdict of Jesus is 
emphatic that the possession of goods is of no importance 
as compared with creation, construction or service for 
the common good. 

• As to the relative merits of selfish competition and 
co-operation for the common good, it would seem that 
the teaching of Jesus is clear. Is selfish competition in 
accord with his teaching concerning the supremacy of 
love, goodwill and brotherhood? Is not co-operation 
the channel through which these attitudes most easily 
find expression? 

In the light of this clear teaching, it would seem that 
the churches should be proclaiming with vigor the mes- 
sage that the purpose of industry is. to produce goods 
which are needed, rather than* to make possible the 
accumulation of private wealth, and that the method 
should be that of friendly co-operation rather than 
selfish competition. 

Is it not high time that the title " Christian" be with- 
drawn from those persons who are mptivated primarily 
by the selfish desire for great possessions or personal 



24 INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 

power and whose ruthless competition and disregard of 
the welfare of competitors and the public is an utter 
denial of brotherhood — no matter how large their benevo- 
lent gifts and public benefactions may be? Should not 
the approval of the churches be reserved for those persons 
who, in the spirit of Jesus, are unselfishly co-operating 
with their fellows in serving the common good? Is not 
this the least that should be expected of the churches? 
Strife and warfare are inevitable in a world which enthrones 
selfish competition. It is futile to expect peace and 
harmony in industry so long as selfish competition 
receives the blessing of public opinion. 

(7) THE RESOURCES OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE 

Religious people in the United States have the power 
to change the public attitude toward the three funda- 
mental points under consideration. They have enormous 
resources at their disposal. There are over forty million 
communicants of the various churches. 'These persons 
acknowledge the supremacy of Jesus' way of life and 
are at least nominally committed to his leadership. 
Many of them are troubled over the strife and misery 
of this day and are increasingly sensitive to the evils of 
modern industry. For the most part their intentions 
are good. They will to do the right thing. There are 
more than one hundred thousand ministers in charge 
of congregations. There are hundreds of thousands of 
teachers in Sunday Schools and millions of pupils. The 
weekly circulation of the religious press runs into the 
millions. The latent power of the religious forces in 
America to influence public opinion is incalculable. 

Among the resources of Christian people is a strong 
belief in the presence and co-operation of the Holy 
Spirit. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a living 
God, who has been seeking through the ages to win men 
to his way of life and to establish His Kingdom upon 
earth. The realization of His presence and help in the 
task of making modern life conform to His will is an 
enormous inspiration to Christians and greatly increases 
their enthusiasm, courage and faith. One of the tragedies 
of these days is the fact that so many Christians are 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 25 

seemingly unaware of the presence of God and make so 
little effort to co-operate with Him in building a better 
world. 

The historian Lecky, in speaking of the influence of 
John Wesley and his followers, said: "England escaped 
the horrors of the French Revolution largely through the 
vehement religious enthusiasm which was at that very 
time passing through the middle and lower classes of 
people." It is possible that history may repeat itself 
in America during the next few decades and that in 
this land an awakening in the churches may prevent 
the worst excesses of the class-war which is even now 
sweeping over parts of Europe. 

(8) SUMMARY 

Let us again raise the question: Are the motives of 
Jesus practicable in modern business and professional 
life? It has been pointed out that' psychologists are 
agreed that the instincts of creation, sensitiveness to 
social approval and disapproval, self-respect, parental 
love and self-sacrifice, are active in all normal persons. 
The vast release of latent self-sacrifice during the war 
is sufficient proof of this fact. The self-denial and un- 
selfish service of Jesus are not contrary to human nature. 
The task before us is not the changing of human nature 
but the creation of situations in which the more 'social 
tendencies may more easily be given expression. 

To this end, changes are needed in public opinion with 
regard to the relative merits of ownership versus service, 
as to whether the basis of industry is production for 
personal profit or for social use, as to whether selfish 
competition is better than friendly co-operation. 

If changes in the public attitude on these three points 
do not take place, it seems certain that we shall have 
continued strife in industry and warfare between nations 
and that civilization itself will be seriously menaced. 
The churches have a great stake in the industrial struggle. 
They also have enormous latent power to form public 
opinion and to create situations in which the more 
social instincts will find expression. 



2G 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 



The task before us is not an impossible one. The 
motives of Jesus are natural to man at his best and can 
be applied in modern business and professional life. 
They must be applied if life is to be made tolerable for 
mankind. The difficulties in the way of their application 
are stupendous. Courage of a high order is demanded. 
And yet in other realms men are not dismayed by obsta- 
cles. Behind the desk of one of the great industrial 
leaders of the nation is a small electric sign which he 
illuminates at psychological moments. It reads: CAN'T 
MUST BE OVERCOME. 

This is the attitude pre-eminent for the Christian with 
regard to the obstacles which block the way to the 
application of the motives of Jesus in modern business 
and professional life. Can't must be overcome. 



APPENDIX 



Brief Extracts from 

THE ACQUISITIVE SOCIETY 1 

By R. H. Tawney 
Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford 

A society which aimed at making the acquisition of 
wealth contingent upon the discharge of social obligations, 
which sought to proportion remuneration to service and 
denied it to those by whom no service, was performed, 
which inquired first not what men possess but what they 
can make or create or achieve, might be called a Functional 
Society, because in such a society the main subject of 
social emphasis would be the performance of functions. 
But such a society does not exist, even as a remote ideal, 
in the modern world, though something like it has hung, 
an unrealized theory, before men's minds in the past. 
Modern societies aim at protecting economic rights, 
while leaving economic functions, except in moments of 
abnormal emergency, to fulfill themselves. . . . 28 
Such societies may be called Acquisitive Societies, because 
their whole tendency and interest and preoccupation is 
to promote the acquisition of wealth. 29 

If society is to be healthy, men must regard themselves 
not as the owners of rights, but as trustees for the dis- 
charge of functions and the instruments of a social 
purpose. 51 

The application to property and industry of the 
principle of function is compatible with several different 
types of social organization. . . . The essential 

1 Published by Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, 188 pages, $1.50. This 
is one of the great books of recent years and should be in the library of 
every student of social problems. 

27 



28 



INCENTIVES IX MODERN LIFE 



thing is that men should fix their minds upon the idea 
of purpose, and give that idea pre-eminence over all 
subsidiary issues. 84 

The application to industry of the principle of purpose 
is simple, however difficult it may be to give effect to it. 
It is to turn it into a Profession. A Profession may be 
defined most simply as a trade which is organized, incom- 
pletely, no doubt, but genuinely, for the performance 
of function. It is not simply a collection of individuals 
who get a living for themselves by the same kind of 
work. Nor is it merely a group which is organized 
exclusively for the economic protection of its members, 
though that is normally among its purposes. It is a 
body of men who carry on their work in accordance 
with rules designed to enforce certain standards both 
for the better protection of its members and for the 
better service of the public. The standards which it 
maintains may be high or low : all professions have some 
rules which protect the interest of the community and 
others which are an imposition on it. Its essence is 
that it assumes certain responsibilities for the competence 
of its members or the quality of its wares, and that it 
deliberately prohibits certain kinds of conduct on the 
ground that, though they may be profitable to the 
individual, they are calculated to bring into disrepute 
the organization to which he belongs. 92 

The difference between industry as it exists today and 
a profession is, then, simple and unmistakable. The 
essence qf the former is that its only criterion is the 
financial return which it offers to its shareholders. The 
essence of the latter, is that, though men enter it for the 
sake of livelihood, the measure of their success is the 
service which they perform, not the gains which they 
amass. They may, as in the case of a successful doctor, 
grow rich; but the meaning of their profession, both 
for themselves and for the public, is not that they make 
money but that they make health, or safety, or knowledge, 
or good government or good law. They depend on it 
for their income, but they do not consider that any 
conduct which increases their income is on that account 
good. And while a boot-manufacturer who retires with 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 29 

half a million is counted to have achieved success, whether 
the boots which he made were of leather or brown paper, 
a civil servant who did the same would be impeached. 
So, if they are doctors, they recognize that there are 
certain kinds of conduct which cannot be practised, 
however large the fee offered for them, because they are 
unprofessional; if scholars and teachers, that it is wrong 
to make money by deliberately deceiving the public, 
as is done by makers of patent medicines, however much 
the public may clamor to be deceived ; if judges or public 
servants, that they must not increase their incomes by 
selling justice for money; if soldiers, that the service 
comes first, and their private inclinations, even the 
reasonable preference of life to death, second. Every 
country has its traitors, every army its deserters, and 
every profession its blacklegs. To idealize the professional 
spirit would be very absurb; it has its sordid side, and, 
if it is to be fostered in industry, safeguards will be 
needed to check its excesses. But there is all the 
difference between maintaining a standard which is 
occasionally abandoned, and affirming as the central 
truth of existence that there is no standard to maintain. 
The meaning of a profession is that it makes the traitors 
the exception, not as they are in industry, the rule. 94 

If industry is to be organized as a profession, two 
changes are requisite, one negative and one positive. 
The first, is that it should cease to be conducted by the 
agents of property-owners for the advantage of property- 
owners, and should be carried on, instead, for the service 
of the public. The second, is that, subject to rigorous 
public supervision, the responsibility for the maintenance 
of the service should rest upon the shoulders of those, 
from organizer and scientist to laborer, by whom, in 
effect, the w^ork is conducted. 96 

Such a change in the character of ownership would 
have three advantages. It would abolish the government 
of industry by property. It would end the payment of 
profits to functionless shareholders by turning them 
into creditors paid a fixed rate of interest. It would lay 
the only possible foundations for industrial peace by 
making it possible to convert industry into a profession 



«°»0 



INCENTIVES IX MODERN LIFE 



carried on by all grades of workers for the service of the 
public, not for the gain of those who own capital. 106 

Either the principle of industry is that of function, 
in which case slack work is only less immoral than no 
work at all; or it is that of grab, in which case there is 
no morality in the matter. But it cannot be both. 
And it is useless either for property-owners or for Govern- 
ments to lament the mote in the eye of the trade unions 
as long as, by insisting on the maintenance of functionless 
property, they decline to remove the beam in their 
own. 133 

During the greater part of the nineteenth century 
industry was driven by two forces, hunger and fear, and 
the employer commanded them both. He, could grant 
or withhold employment as he pleased. If men revolted 
against his terms he could dismiss them, and if they were 
dismissed what confronted them was starvation or the 
workhouse. Authority was centralized; its instruments 
were passive; the one thing which they dreaded was 
unemployment. . . . That system might be lauded 
as efficient or denounced as inhuman. But, at least, as 
its admirers were never tired of pointing out, it worked. 
And, like the Prussian State, which alike in its virtues 
and deficiencies it not a little resembled, as long as it 
worked it survived denunciations of its methods, as a 
strong man will throw off a disease. But today it is 
ceasing to have even the qualities of its defects. It is 
ceasing to be efficient. It no longer secures the ever- 
increasing output of wealth which it offered in its golden 
prime, and which enabled it to silence criticism by an 
imposing spectacle of material success. Though it still 
works, it works unevenly, amid constant friction and 
jolts and stoppages, without the confidence of the public 
and without full confidence even in itself, a tyrant who 
must intrigue and cajole where formerly he commanded, 
a goaler who, if not yet deprived of whip, dare only 
administer moderate chastisement, and who, though he 
still protests that he alone can keep the treadmill moving 
and get the corn ground, is compelled to surrender so 
much of his authority as to make it questionable whether 
he is worth his keep. 140 



INCENTIVES IN MODERN LIFE 31 

The burden of t>ur civilization is not merely, as many 
suppose, that the product of industry is ill-distributed, 
or its conduct tyrannical, or its operation interrupted 
by embittered disagreements. It is that industry itself 
has come to hold a position of exclusive predominance 
among human interests, which no single interest, and 
least of all the provision of the material means of exist- 
ence, is fit to occupy. Like a hypochondriac who is so 
absorbed in the processes of his own digestion that he 
goes to his grave before he has begun to live, industrialized 
communities neglect the very objects for which it is worth 
while to acquire riches in their feverish preoccupation 
with the means by which riches can be acquired. 183 

That obsession by economic issues is as local and 
transitory as it is repulsive and disturbing. To future 
generations it will appear as pitiable as the obsession of 
the seventeenth century by religious quarrels appears 
today; indeed, it is less rational, since the object with 
which it is concerned is less important. And it is a 
poison which inflames every wound and turns each 
trivial scratch into a malignant ulcer. Society will not 
solve the particular problems of industry which afflict it, 
until that poison is expelled, and it has learned to see 
industry itself in the right perspective. If it is to do 
that, it must rearrange its scale of values. It must 
regard economic interests as one element in life, not as 
the whole of life. It must persuade its members to 
renounce the opportunity of gains which accrue without 
any corresponding service, because the struggle for them 
keeps the whole community in a fever. It must so 
organize industry that the instrumental character of 
economic activity is emphasized by its subordination to 
the social purposes for which it is carried on. 184 



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